Religious Discrimination
| Author | Kerry McCarthy |
| Published date | 01 December 2001 |
| Date | 01 December 2001 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455050104800408 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
292
Religious
Discrimination
This report describes the findings of
research commissioned by the Home
Office in April 1999. Open ended
interviews and discussions were held in
several locations with individual members
of religious traditions and representatives
of religious organisations and secular
agencies from the public, private and
voluntary sectors. There were a total of
156 meetings, involving 318 individuals
from twenty distinct faith groups from
“minority traditions” and a range of
Christian traditions. A more structured
postal survey of religious organisations in
England and Wales was also conducted.
Of 1,830 questionnaires sent, 628 were
returned, a response rate that does not
provide precise statistical data. The
findings from the two methods “tally
reasonably well”.
The report addresses the extent to
which religious discrimination overlaps
with racial discrimination (chapter 2).
Some main findings include:
• There was recognition that religion
and ethnicity are highly complex, and
many interviewees highlighted the
artificiality of trying to separate religious
and cultural identities.
• Religions with large numbers of
visible minorities, such as Muslims, Sikhs
and Hindus reported the most
discrimination overall and identified a
degree of overlap between religious and
racial discrimination.
• Black-led Christian organisations
consistently reported their members’unfair
experiences more often than Christian
organisations generally.
•There were claims of unfair treatment
from white people of British descent with
no outward, visible signs of their religion.
Chapters 3-10 each deal with a
particular area of life, such as educational,
employment, housing, benefits and the
media. They are easy to read and provide
specific examples of unfair treatment,
useful for developing an understanding of
how the Probation Service could
discriminate on religious grounds, both as
an employer and in relation to work with
offenders.
Chapter 5, ‘Criminal Justice and
Immigration’, is more directly relevant to
a probation perspective. Some findings
include:
•In the area of criminal justice,
Muslim and Sikh organisations recorded
much higher levels of “unfair treatment’’
compared to Christian organisations.
• Pagan and New Religious Movements
(as defined in the reports glossary) also
reported unfair experiences in the Criminal
Justice System as common.
•The attitudes and behaviour of prison
staff were regarded as more problematic
than prison policy.
•Most traditions were less likely to
indicate unfair treatment by the Probation
Service compared to the Police, lawyers
and the courts.
• However, approximately two in three
Muslim organisations indicated unfair
treatment from the Probation Service,
higher than the one in three for lawyers
and the courts.
This seems particularly pertinent given
the potential for current world events to
increase discrimination against Muslims.
The findings on the role of the media in
religious discrimination (chapter 10)
include quotes from the postal survey
indicating a portrayal of Muslims as
terrorists even prior to the events of
September 11th.
RESEARCH
&REPORTS
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